Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming November 2015 32 Gambling and the law D aily Fantasy Sports is Rocky Balboa. Like Rocky in the big fight scene in Rocky I, DFS operators have been on the ropes since the beginning of October. But, also like Rocky, they continue to battle on, taking a beating that would floor lesser competitors. For example, during one week in September, DraftKings was the single biggest advertiser on television. DFS operators have slowed their spending, in part because media companies are reluctant to run commercials for what might be illegal gambling. Still, DraftKings, FanDuel and their smaller competitors continue to spend enough to “move the needle” on the total amount spent by all advertisers for all products and services throughout the entire United States. Much of DFS operators’ bruises have been self-inflicted. DFS sites are staffed by people who like to play fantasy sports. This is true of every gaming operation that puts an existing game to the internet. But DFS operators should have learned the lesson of Absolute End Game for Daily Fantasy Sports? By Professor I Nelson Rose Professor I Nelson Rose is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on gambling law and is a consultant and expert witness for governments and industry. His latest books, Gaming Law in a Nutshell , Internet Gaming Law and Gaming Law: Cases and Materials , are available through his website, www.gamblingandthelaw.com. Poker, where an insider was discovered to be a “super-user,” with the ability to see every other players’ down-cards. DraftKings and FanDuel say they had already taken the obvious first step of banning their employees from participating in DFS on their own sites. We have to hope and assume this also covers not passing on inside information to family and friends. But, given the nature of fantasy sports, which relies so heavily on statistical information, operators should have also prohibited their staff from playing on every DFS site, especially big money games. This would have prevented the scandal that will haunt operators for years, where a DraftKings employee won US$350,000 on FanDuel. “Just a mistake,” said DraftKings about its manager, who accidentally released important customer information about player selections and then won US$350,000 playing fantasy football at FanDuel. To state and federal prosecutors and disgruntled losing patrons, it looks instead like the manager used inside information to give himself an advantage in choosing which IAG’s resident US gambling law expert takes a look at the tough times Daily Fantasy Sports is battling.